Saddam, sons targeted in strike

MSNBC.com ^

[GulliverSwift]

BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 8 — A U.S. Air Force warplane dropped four enormous bombs Monday on a residential neighborhood where “extremely reliable” intelligence information indicated that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his two sons were staying, senior administration officials told NBC News. The sources would not rule out the possibility that Saddam could have moved before the planes struck, but they said it was highly likely that he and his sons were dead if they were still there when the bombs hit.

BASED ON an intelligence source on the ground in Baghdad, U.S. military officials were confident that Saddam and his sons, Uday and Qusay, were attending a meeting in the neighborhood, senior officials said.
Officials quickly called in Air Force jets to strike the location Monday with four GBU-31 Joint Direct Attack Munition weapons, the 2,000-pound smart bombs known as “bunker busters.” Diplomatic officials and officials at the Pentagon told NBC News that they were highly confident that they killed everyone at the meeting.
Military officials at U.S. Central Command forward headquarters in Doha, Qatar, confirmed the airstrike but would not comment on its possible effect.

BUSY DAY FOR COALITION
If Saddam was killed, U.S. military planners would have achieved one of their prime objectives in the war. It would cap a dramatic day in which U.S. forces established a foothold in one of Saddam’s palaces in Baghdad after swooping into the city the day before.
Coalition forces moved to cut off escape routes from the capital. Meanwhile, in a city near Baghdad, the military was led to a site where suspicious chemical compounds were stored — a discovery that, if verified, could prove that Iraq had continued its banned weapons programs.
U.S. troops remained in the presidential compound on the west bank of the Tigris River, apparently determined to deliver a powerful message to residents and Saddam loyalists that his regime was broken.
They had been part of an early morning assault by more than 70 tanks and 60 Bradley fighting vehicles from the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division. The attack was a power play designed to prove to Saddam and the Iraqi people that “we can come and go at our pleasure,” a U.S. military official told NBC News on condition of anonymity.

[T. Rustin Noone]

Just reported on FOX: US intel reports that they were able to identify that the occupants of the building were within 4 meters of each other and that they were discussing the ways and means to escape from Baghdad at the time the bombs landed. How cool is this!

[You Dirty Rats]

If you're right, then this looks like Saddam would be playing the part of the gopher in Caddyshack.

If so, we'll need to send Carl the assistant greenkeeper over to flush or smoke him out.

[Mark Hamilton]

The latest on Fox is far more positive:

a) At least Saddam and one son (perhaps both) are "strongly" believed to have been in the building when struck by 4 JDAM bunker busters (5000lb each?).

b) Jaguar is a britsh developed encription system, ALMOST unbreakable - but special forces were provided with decrypts by Brit and American codebreakers. Saddam used it..to his demise.

c) 3 or 4 times in the last several weeks the allies have missed Saddam's location by minutes.

d) If a son is still alive...rumors are that he is either in command or in Syria, recovering from injuries from the March 19th attack.

f) Just a giant crater is left, the allies believe he was not in the bunker below the target, but in the residential building.

If he died, we may never know for certain.

[Hank Kerchief]

He's dead again!!

Just as Scripture prophesied:

Rev 20:14 "... This is the second death."

[woofie]

The U.S.-led coalition bombed a Baghdad commercial block yesterday after receiving a tip that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was there, Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough are reporting for the WASHINGTON TIMES.

A U.S. military official tells the TIMES that the allies bombed the al Saa restaurant block at 3 p.m. Baghdad time yesterday on information from a 'sensitive intelligence source.'

The source said that Saddam and senior Ba'ath Party leaders were meeting with 30 intelligence officials in a facility behind or beneath the restaurant. MORE///


Drudge

[nmh]

"Has CNN gotten a single scoop in this entire war?"

They begrudgingly cover it with the hopes that the Bush administration will either screw up or lose.

[lelio]

What's the Jaguar system? Is that an encryption mechanism sold to Iraq by the British?

[OneVike]

TOAST

[GulliverSwift]

What do you think, ladies, are you sorry to see this man go? He'd tear your heart out, literally. And then your spleen, you lungs, etc.

[ErnBatavia]

Jaguar is a britsh developed encription system, ALMOST unbreakable - but special forces were provided with decrypts by Brit and American codebreakers. Saddam used it..to his demise.

Somebody who passed this stuff around to the media better be damned sure that he's been offed; otherwise, some ass be grass.

[marajade]

"Has CNN gotten a single scoop in this entire war?"

They're probably getting them but since they've all been positive, they aren't going with them...

[Milwaukee_Guy]

Peter Jennings broke into ABC's prime time bilge at about 9:15 CDT with the same story apparently pilfered almost word for word from MSNBC. Exhausted about two minutes of precious network time and raced back to some dismal lawyer show.

FWIW IMHO Saddam split the country on day two or three with cruise missle shrapnel in his ass.

[GulliverSwift]

Well, they did get a scoop, of French merde. Wolfy's been scooping it up for months.

[429CJ]

Employment Needed:

Experienced spokesperson, newly unemployed looking for work.

Excellent imagination.

Reason for unemployment: Former employer just died.

[marajade]

"That all three would be in the same location cannot be."

Supposedly they were using some sort of communications device developed by the Britons... and since the Britons are on our side, gave us the code...

[LPStar]

Thanks for reminding me of that story. No one has mentioned it for a while. Hmm.

[LayoutGuru2]

Anyone have some links for this Jaguar system?
Came up empty at google.
Probably because it is top secret.

[riri]

He's a real looker though...